Android Influence

The Galaxy S8 Active camera feature is the same as the Galaxy S8 which have been mentioned for almost a year. Recently, while playing with the S8 Active camera, I saw the “Slow motion” feature so I wondered what is that all about?

As you can see this creates a very nice slow motion clip of the bird flying. However, when I move the camera, the quick jerk action of the camera movement, stopped the slow motion effect. I will need a lot more practice to get good with this feature.

On another topic, Samsung just announced the Galaxy S9 and S9+ and with slow motion at 960fps, that will create an incredible slow motion effect. I guess we cannot wait to try that Galaxy S9/S9+. One caveat, this feature will use up more storage to store your video.

Enjoy & Bye for now.

Your Sprint Product Ambassador*

Hung Bui

* Disclaimer: The Product Ambassadors are Sprint employees from many different parts of the company that love technology. They volunteer to test out all sorts of Sprint devices and offer opinions freely to the Community. Each Product Ambassador shares their own opinions of these devices, therefore the information in this post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprint. The PA's do not represent the company in an official way, and should not be expected to respond to Community members in an official capacity. #sprintemployee.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about setting the outlook Exchange email on my S8 Active (Setting up outlook email). However, I discovered that while I could browse the company Exchange contact list, the contacts that I store in the personal outlook contact folders are not being synced to the phone.

Over the past couple of years, I have written often about the importance of slapping a case on phone as soon as it is taken out of the box. This is due to my active outdoor lifestyle and my unfortunate propensity to break screens. The last 12 months, however, have brought into my hands some devices that thanks to advances in phone build technology have brought peace of mind with extra protection.

That was not the case back when I was trying out the Samsung Galaxy S8 a few months back. Due to the all-glass body the phone is slicker than a politician as my granddad would have said. It was just two weeks into my ownership that I dropped the S8 while placing it in my running armband and cracked the screen. That has to be some kind of record. The phone landed in the corner sweet spot on the pavement and that was the end. This could have been avoided of course with a combination of some good care and a great case.

That brings us to the Samsung S8 Active. This S8 is built differently with glass in the front but metal in the back and reinforced corners that when dropped will provide extra protection. The screen has extra protection as well with a special layer of coating to prevent the screen from cracking.

This is the first flagship device ever that I have felt a level of confidence to grab and go without a case. It feels kind of weird to be honest. I have taken the S8 Active with me outdoors cycling, running, doing outdoor construction work, hiking and more. Through it all the phone has operated as expected and I have hardly given a thought about the lack of a case.

Despite all of this great success, I have decided to add a case and screen protector. In my mind, I expect my device to last up to two years and there is just no denying that case will keep it looking fresh and scratch free. After several weeks of use, there are some minor scratches on the screen and I noticed a small scratch on the metal body where the color is no longer present.

Another motivator for a case the due to the feel of the device while outside. It is winter and I have noticed for sure the back of the device gets really cold matching the temperature which although should not impact the phone performance sure does make it cold to the touch.

Mostly, your device is a long-term investment and even with the rugged styling a simple case covering it will ensure it stays pristine through the full time you own it.

The Product Ambassadors are Sprint employees from many different parts of the company that love technology. They volunteer to test out all sorts of Sprint devices and offer opinions freely to the Community. Each Product Ambassador shares their own opinions of these devices, therefore the information in this post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprint. The PA's do not represent the company in an official way, and should not be expected to respond to Community members in an official capacity. #sprintemployee

As previously stated this device is light weight and a very usable device. Great device for students who don't want to break the bank but would like a Smartphone. You can currently get this device for $0/mo from Sprint with a Sprint Flex Lease. You will have an option to buy it at 18 months for about $30. Very economical and covers the basics I believe most people use with a smartphone device.

My favorite feature stems from the fact that I really enjoy movies. And with Sprint, you can get Hulu for free. So my daughter and I tested out the streaming quality for this device and picked some kids shows to watch on, what for it, Hulu. (name drop) The video quality was excellent. And I was very surprised by the variety of shows and movies available with the service. And while I didn't expect movie theater sound quality, it was very clear and easy to listen to.

After we finished testing it out I noticed an app that was pre-loaded on the device. Some of you may already use the app, but if not check it out. It is the Smart News App. If you are like me you try to keep your ear to the grindstone so that you are aware of what is going on, then you probably have 20 news apps downloaded and in a file on your smartphone. If your not like me in that regard then this app will not help you.

Here are a few tidbits I pulled from the apps page in the android market place.

The app has been downloaded by 25 million readers in more than 100 countries.

The app analyzes millions of articles every day to deliver the top trending news stories influencing the world right now.

But here is the reason I really liked it. Depending on where you are traveling, for instance, in the mountains, and your connection isn't the best and wifi isn't available. This app gives you the option to download the stories without all the pictures that require decent data speeds to download. So you can still get your news fast. Every time you press a link to an article you can choose the "Smart" version and it will just download the text. And even better, it excludes all the advertisements as well.

This app is also great because you can customize the type of news you want it to focus on like sports or BIZ. So if your interested go check out in the Apps Store.

Android Influence are blogs written by Product Ambassadors who are Sprint employees and Device Champions who are customer device experts, both volunteer to test and blog about Sprint Android devices. Information and opinions posted here do not necessarily reflect or represent that of Sprint itself.